Creating Trusted Spaces
By JUSTINE FISCHER
Overview
A Trusted Space ™ (ATS) a free cutting-edged researched based film and curriculum for educators and all those who serve our children. https://allittakes.org/
Student centered whole child education is the key to improving the long term social, emotional, and academic wellbeing of our children. In ATS, we take the position that this is not optimally possible if we do not start first with our educators themselves. How does one support the emotional fallout of our kids if they are missing that for themselves? If the tools needed are not taught to them, simply expected of them? How does one teach calculus if they are not first taught, and then mastered, calculus?
Educators are first responders. They are expected to hold together all parts of a child’s educational experience, including the social-emotional aspect that has long been overlooked as a critical and equal piece to the academic experience. Research suggests that academics are severely influenced by the social-emotional piece however that bridge of understanding has not permeated into the hearts and tool kits for too many educators.
ATS, does both, permeates hearts, (the film), and provides the tool kit, (the curriculum), for teachers to feel understood, confident, and empowered to come back to school next year ready to meet the unique post pandemic needs facing the education ecosystem.
Re-Opening calls for creative ways to influence teachers and A Trusted Space™, the film and curriculum, does this by supporting these three key ideas:
1. The Science: knowing the effects of trauma and emotional stressors is not the same as embracing them with each child they serve.
2. Personal Care and Insights: if educators do not understand their own self-care needs and responses to emotional stressors how can they do so for the students they serve?
3. Trusted Space™… the atmosphere where healing and resiliency grow naturally so learning can happen for all students.
The film and curriculum can be accessed here: https://allittakes.org
Expected Impact
Conceived on June 3, 2020 and launched on September 21, 2020, A Trusted Space (ATS) free film and curriculum has now been accessed in all 50 states and in 26 countries. As of April 15, ATS has impacted over 3.5M students organically through the users of the program. All It Takes
On May 18, 2021 the California Department of Education is hosting a screening of the film followed by a panel discussion with film creators and curriculum writers of ATS.
We are asking teachers/educators to do things they have never done, to come back from a challenge from which they have had no experience. They need the skills to navigate establishing trust and build the safe space. No one is left untouched by the trauma and unknowing. Difficult issues of inequity, racism, learning issues, the digital divide, and socio-economic challenges, have only been heightened by the pandemic. This offers educators the skills they need to change the equation and create a space where student success is possible.
Adopt & Adapt
Access to A Trusted Space™ (ATS), the film and curriculum, is free and is easily accessible to all educators, via download. The film is closed captioned in Spanish and in English for the hearing impaired. The easy accessibility and use are key reasons for ATS’s substantial, and organic growth. Additionally, the interactive curriculum is designed to be delivered in both virtual and in-person classroom settings offering trusted spaces for all students and teachers everywhere.
Access here: https://allittakes.org/